Time and cost analysis of repacking medications in unit-of-use containers.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the effects of repacking drugs in unit-of-use containers in community pharmacies. The purpose of this study was to examine whether unit-of-use repacking reduces routine mechanical "counting and pouring" to allow more time for pharmaceutical care. DESIGN: Simulation pilot study to evaluate the differences between the existing and proposed systems. Based on the literature, four variables--optimum pack size, time savings, packaging costs, and shelving requirements--were selected for evaluation. Historical prescription data from a chain were used in determining the sample drugs and their optimum pack sizes. Workflow analysis and time study were used to estimate the time savings. Manufacturer bottles, repack bottles, and shelves were measured to determine the impact of using unit-of-use containers on storage requirements. SETTING: Three community pharmacies in a major drugstore chain in Cincinnati, Ohio. RESULTS: The 25 fastest-moving solid oral dosage forms, representing 21.6% of all drugs dispensed by the chain, were selected as the sample drugs for the study. The workflow analysis and time study revealed that 0.79 minutes could be saved per prescription if repacked drugs were used. There was an increased cost of approximately $0.05 for every repack bottle used in place of a prescription vial. It was calculated that repacking in unit-of-use containers would increase storage requirements in the pharmacy by 2.5 times if current inventory levels were maintained. CONCLUSION: Repacking drugs in unit-of-use containers is potentially an inexpensive method to increase usable time in the pharmacy that does not require an increase in personnel or the purchase of additional technology at the store level.

Programme integration to support drug information and dissemination.

The world-wide Drug Information/Drug Experience/Publication Programme at Norwich Eaton Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NEPI) is coordinated and supported by the Information Services (IS) and Medical Surveillance and Communications (MSC) sections of R&D. To support the programme, IS maintains a database of published reports of drug reactions and MSC maintains a separate but compatible database of drug experiences reported by health care professionals, patients, and the field sales force, as well as in published reports. These databases are used to provide information to individuals both inside and outside the Company. All requests for information from authors, editors and publishers are coordinated through IS. Also, when factual errors about NEPI products are discovered, this section coordinates a response to the author and publisher. Requests for information from health care professionals are handled by MSC. The programme serves as a framework for systematic gathering, storage and dissemination of information. The programme also clearly identifies the departments responsible for responding to outside inquiries and makes possible expedient provision of consistent, accurate information to authors, editors, publishers and clinicians throughout the world.

A key to the literature of total enteral nutrition.

Proper nutrition is a prerequisite for good health. Nutritional support of stressed patients hospitalized for surgery, trauma, or medical treatment is a rapidly evolving science. This bibliography provides an access to the literature on enteral nutrition with chemically defined elemental diets.

Characteristics of the enteral hyperalimentation literature.

There is a bias in secondary literature sources, such as MEDLINE, that results in an information gap on enteral hyperalimentation. This gap accentuates the problem of locating papers on enteral hyperalimentation with medical foods, a problem shared by physicians, dietitians, pharmacists, and information scientists. A complete information package on enteral hyperalimentation with chemically defined elemental diets was identified and collected for use in determining the characteristics of that literature. Less than 20 journal titles contain over half of the published papers which are predominantly published in English from research done in the United States. As the medical community's interest in the enteral route for hyperalimentation escalates, so does its need for information in this vital patient support area. Any possible hindrance to obtaining access to published information should be recognized and challenged.